Pier was starting to get annoyed.
'Seriously, I would have gouged their eyes out if I could,' He remarked inside his head. The stares the nobles were giving him after their first attempt to gang up on him were uncomfortable.
"Will the young master sit beside the crown prince again?" Raphael asked Pier but the latter declined and shook his head.
"I would not want to disturb the Crown Prince's meeting. I shall then sit at the corner." Pier smiled before parting ways with Raphael and sitting at the farthest corner of the table they were all gathered.
Sitting beside Asher would be the last thing he wanted to do today and it would seem awkward with how Asher stared at him earlier.
He silently watched as the servants brought in the various luxurious delicacies to the table.
"Young master here is the tea -- ah!" the servant who brought Pier a teapot with boiling tea inside it suddenly tripped.
Hiss!
The servant lost her balance and fell to her knees and the freshly brewed tea spilled from the pot.
Gasp!
Everyone in the room gasped as the hot tea landed on Pier's right arm.
"Young master!" Raphael hurriedly went to Pier's side and inspected the burned arm. The pale skin was now swelling so much and Pier stared at his burned arm.
"Quickly grab a damp cloth!" Raphael's panicked voice was heard by the servants but the nobles did not even move an inch. The servants hurriedly searched for a damp cloth to alleviate the burn on Pier's arms.
'Why is this so familiar?' Pier asked himself as the familiar feeling of pain seeped into his flesh.
He scanned Pier's memories about the reason why he felt a familiar feeling of his skin burning.
'Forgive me, young master!" The servant cried as she was kneeling on the floor of the prince's palace.
'Asher! It hurts!' Pier complained as the scalding hot tea soaked his clothes and burned his stomach. However, the prince did not even bother giving him attention but instead pretended as if nothing happened.
"Oh my, please be careful next time," Arda told the servant and the servant bowed before hurriedly going back to the kitchen.
"What? are you not going to punish that servant, Lady Arda?" Pier asked as he winced at the slight pain of the burn he got from the tea.
"It's fine, young master. Besides, it was simply an accident." Instead of Arda replying, it was Elena who told him that it was simply an accident.
"What are your thoughts, Your Highness?" She asked Asher and the prince nodded his head as if he wasn't even interested in the scenario.
Pier bowed his head, unable to speak up after Asher told him that it was only an accident and the servant does not need to be punished.
He clenched his fist and stood up from his seat and walked out of the venue of the gathering
Pier felt the cold sensation brought by the damp cloth. The pain was slightly subsiding but it was still evident.
"Forgive me, young master!" It was the same servant that had burned him on Pier's memory. Pier diverted his gaze at the servant.
'She definitely did that on purpose.' The way that Pier was the first person to be served with the tea even in the presence of the Crown Prince and how the maid landed on the exact position with her bottom looking like she indeed slipped like the last time was already suspicious enough.
"Why did you do that?!" Raphael's voice was heard by everyone. He was applying the damp cloth on Pier's burned arm. The servant's eyes shook at the fear after hearing Raphael's' angry voice.
"F-Forgive me, Sir Raphael!" The servant fully got on her knees and bowed her head as if she was kissing the floor. She looked pitiful enough that anyone would forgive her.
"Calm down, Sir Raphael. It was only an accident." Arda said with a small smile on her face. Pier chuckled at how the events turned out.
'Really, they could not even think of anything new.' He found it funny that Arda was playing the same trick she did when the servant purposely spilled the tea on Pier's clothes before.
"Yes, please do not worry, Sir Raphael. It was only an accident." Pier's cold gaze was directed at Asher who only sat there with his eyes full of surprise.
"Then I am guessing it is my cue to leave. Please do continue having a good time and do not mind me." Pier said as he stood up from his seat and walked right out the door.
"Young master, please wait!" Asher immediately ran after Pier after coming back to his senses. He reached the young master who was now outside the salon he had just come into.
"Pier!" Pier stopped in his tracks after hearing his name come out of Asher's mouth. He turned around and smiled.
Asher stopped in his movements as well as he saw Pier's face. Tears were streaming down his face as he clutched his burned arm with the damp cloth.
"Pier..." Asher tried to speak but Pier only chuckled as if he found everything funny.
"Your highness, please do not mind me and continue with the gathering. It was only an accident, right?" Pier said with a smile. A smile that contained animosity and mockery.
"Pier, it's not an accident -" Asher who did not see what happened clearly knew that it was also purposely done.
"If it wasn't then I assumed it was purposely done. Is that the reason why you 'personally' invited me to this gathering, your highness?" Pier's voice was strained as he spoke through the pain of his burned arm.
Asher's face reddened after hearing Pier's words.
"Wha- Pier you're misinterpreting things!" Asher explained with worry as he tried to find explanations about what happened.
"Ah, forgive my impertinent remarks, Your Highness. I know that it was only an accident like you have said before. Please do not make the other nobles wait for you and go back. I will also go back and heal the burn." Pier said before turning and walking towards the carriage that was waiting for him.
'Why does this body cry so easily?' He was annoyed with how Pier's body immediately reacted to the pain it felt. Eliam was definitely not the type to cry but this body's functions seem to be set on that after feeling too much pain.
"Pier!" Asher called out but Pier already got on his carriage. Raphael's worried face soon showed beside him.
"Your Highness, please do explain what just happened." He said with a cold tone.
Asher felt his blood boil at the mixed feelings he was getting. He was disappointed that the expectation of him sorting things out with Pier was ruined and he was embarrassed that the young master from their sworn household got burned by a mere servant and he was not even able to do anything.
"Asher-"
"Gather all the nobles who were attending the gathering. Do not let the servant who burned the young master get away!" Asher ordered as he went back inside the salon. Raphael only nodded his head in response after seeing Asher's sudden cold reaction.
--
"Your Highness, please do consider! It was an accident!" Arda screamed as the servant kneeled in front of Asher. Asher's cold gaze was cast upon her as she cried silently.
"Tell me, Lady Arda. I will let the servant live if she confesses to having conspired with any of the nobles here in burning the young master but kill her if she is found to have done it alone." Asher's gaze and words sent chills to everyone present on the floor. Their hearts were beating wildly as cold sweat trickled down their backs.
"Y-Your Highness, I-" The servant tried to defend herself but she felt the grim stares that she had gotten from the nobles surrounding her.
The servant bowed her head as she continued to cry silently. How could she even defend herself in this situation? She was alone and the rest of the nobles were teaming up against her. She does not know what would happen to her family if ever she tells the truth.
"It was only m-"
"Hoh, what's with all the commotion, everyone?" All the individuals present in the room turned their heads toward the source of the voice.
"Pier!" Raphael hurriedly went towards Pier who had his burned arm wrapped in bandages.
"Are you okay?" With worry evident in his voice, he hesitantly touched Pier's other arm, afraid as if he was touching something fragile.
"I'm okay, Sir Raphael. I've happened to luckily carry a magic potion that helped with the healing." Pier said as he turned to look at the scenario inside the room. He walked towards the spot where the servant was kneeling and held his hand out.
"Your Highness, please do pardon this servant. I could tell that it was purely on accident and was not by any intentional means." He smiled at the servant who stared at his lent-out hand.
"Young master it was clearly on purpose!" Asher gritted his teeth at Pier's actions. He was expecting him to have changed but it seems like Pier was still his usual gullible self!
"Even if it was on purpose, it is still not right to have someone killed." Asher immediately stopped his actions as he dumbfoundedly stared at Pier.
"Come here, you do not have to kneel and beg for forgiveness, I understand." Pier lowly said as he saw that the servant was not taking his hand. The nobles gasped at the contact Pier made with a lowly servant like her.
"Is she by any chance one of your servants, Lady Arda?" Pier asked Arda who was also staring at them dumbfoundedly.
"Y-yes, young master..." She replied with hesitation. Pier smiled at her and asked another question.
"Then are you the one who ordered her to spill the tea on me?" Arda's eyes widened at Pier's question as she flinched and almost lost her balance.
"N-No! Such accusations!" She had a terrified look on her face.
"Oh, I did not mean to accuse the lady. I am simply asking out of curiosity. Forgive my impudence." Pier said as he lightly laughed.
"Seeing that it was only through your actions, I presume you are now exiled from working for Lady Arda." It would be blatantly admitting that Arda and the servant conspired with each other if she still continued to hold on to the servant that had soiled her own reputation and was basically admitting to what she had done.
The servant nodded her head and bowed.
"Then why don't you become one of my servants?" Gasps resonated around the room at Pier's unexpected proposal.
"Young master! Please think about your offer towards that servant! She had caused you that burn!" Asher said with an unknown expression. He never thought that Pier would think that way - of giving the servant a position within his maids!
"Let us simply consider her service for me as her new master as compensation for the thing that she had done," Pier said and the servant gulped at the proposition made by him. All that she could see right now was the small hope of light radiating from Pier. It was hope.
"T-Then, please allow me to atone for my sins, young master! I shall serve you with all my strength and dignity!" The servant had made her decision. What could she do? Pier was her last and remaining chance of hope in this place she was kneeling in.
"That's a good decision," Pier smirked inwardly at the turnout of things. It's a good thing that the coachman had been carrying a magic healing potion that caused these changes.
"Now that's everything settled, we can continue with the gathering I suppose?" Pier said as he ordered the servant to wait for him in the carriage he had brought with him. The servant immediately obeyed his orders and went outside the salon.
The nobles who were not sure how to react silently sat back in their respective seats. They were surprised with how things proceeded. The crown prince reacted harshly to their plans and it even risked their positions as successors. Not only that, the servant they used to do their biddings was now under Pier's supervision.
"Are you sure you still want to attend, Pier?" Raphael asked Pier as they both walked towards the table. Pier nodded his head and smiled.
"Ready as I'll ever be."